Edmund Fuller, Matthew Hodgson, Lee Smith, and James West discuss contemporary and historical authorship in the United States. They outline how commercial considerations such as marketing, promotion, and distribution impact the writing, editing, and publishing of American fiction and nonfiction books. Small family-owned publishing houses are described along with more modern book-selling conglomerates. The speakers discuss publishing principles such as the backlist, developing new talent, and regional sales. They criticize publishers for placing greater importance on seasonal profits from popular books than on long-term income from classic works. They discuss the changing and challenging role of the editor. Fuller tells an anecdote about his glamorous first day in the New York City publishing world in which he met writer Erich Maria Remarque and singer and actress Marlene Dietrich.
At the time of this interview, Fuller, the author of many works of fiction, nonfiction, and textbooks, was chief book critic for the Wall Street Journal. Hodgson was director of the University of North Carolina Press. Smith, the author of Black Mountain Breakdown and Cakewalk, was professor of English at North Carolina State University. West, a Fellow at the Center (1981-82), was professor of English at Virginia Polytechnic University.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
